Process of treating raw hides



' T UNITED I STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST FIGRETHER AND CHARLES MOSHERLOF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA.

PROCESS OF TREATING RAW HIDE S.

SPBCIPICATION forming art Of Letters Patent NO. 361,999, dated April 26, 1887.

ments in Processes for Treating Raw Hidesy and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

This invention is an improved process of treating raw hide to render the same hard, elastic, and water-proof; and it consists in the steps hereinafter described, and pointed out in the appended claims.

As the product of the process difl'ersin some essential points. from anything of the kind produced before,vit is also included in the invention and embraced in the claims.

The process is as follows; The hide, being properly washed and cleaned in the ordinary manner to remove dirt, is treated with lime at a temperature of not over 90 Fahrenheit to denude it of hair. The hair being thus re moved, the hide is stretched and nearly dried. It is then disinfected by placing it in a bath of bromo-chloralum and water, the proportions of which in the bath are about one gallon of bromo-chloralum to twenty gallons of water,

' or a bath may be used composed of one ounce of carbolic-acid crystals or two ounces of ordinary commercial carbolic acid to the gallon of water. We prefer, however, the first-described bath. The hideis left in this disinfecting-bath for about six hours, according to the state or condition of the hide, the time of immersion varying in length for sweet or fresh hides and those that are old or tainted. After immersion in this bath for a proper length of time, the hide is removed and passed between rollers to wring it, and again stretched and nearly dried. The hide is then immersed in a bath of the soluble silicate of soda for about eight hours, or unti 1 1s sa ura c with the silicate. This soda-bath is made in about the proportion of one gallon of commercial silicate of soda to two gallons of lukewarm water. It is then again nearly drie an s11 mitted to the rollers, so as to solidify it by pressure, after which the drying is completed at a temperature of not over 112 Fahrenheit. The dried hide is now passed between pressurerollers, so as to reduce it to one uniform thick-- the rolling-machine used by duce' metal to different thicknesses. The rolls Application filed May 25,1886. Serial-1203,244 (s z 9 [g ness. Then it is varnished with suitable varnish, shellac, or asphaltum.

The rollers used in wringing out the hides p and pressing them to a uniform thickness may be of any suitable kind-such,

for instance, as tinsmiths to reproper may be made of wood, rubber, metal, or any suitable material, as they form no part of the invention, and various other means may be employed for wringing the hides and for reducing them-such, for example, as by draulic presses, a roll moving over a plane surface, drop or trip hammers, or pounding by hand, and many other ways known to those skilled in the art.

The process being thus completed, it will be found that the hide has become essentially a new material, the mechanical treatment causing it to become hard and elastic, and the absorbed silicate and varnish entangled in its fibers by the pressure and not removable therefrom rendering it water-proof. The power of the hide to resist water is increased to some extent a coating of a suitable varnish, means we can vary the color of our product as desired, and at the same time impart to its surface a finished appearance. I

This product is well adapted for the manufacture of surgical splints and other articles, and it is also a good substitute for whalebone. Having described our invention, we claim- 1 The herein-described process for treating raw hide to render it hard, elastic, and waterproof, which process consists in washing the by giving it Cross Reference w,

the action of 7 5 and by this hide, treating it with lime at a temperature not above Fahrenheit to remove the hair, stretching and nearly drying it, immersing it in a bath of dilute carbolic acid or bromo/ chloralum for disinfecting purposes, passing it between rollers under pressure, and again stretching and nearly drying it, immersing it in a bath of the soluble silicate of soda until it 9;

is saturated therewith, then partly drying it and subjecting it again to roller-pressure to solidify it, then completing the drying of it ata temperature not over 112 Fahrenheit, then varnishing it, and

the rollers until it h k is reduced to a uniform t io ness.

passing it again between nearly dryingit, immersing it in a bath of a soluble silicate-Sn ch as silicate of s0da-until IO saturated therewith, then partly drying it, then varnishing it, subjecting it to pressure to solidify, then completely drying it ata temperature not to exeed 112 Fahrenheit, and

passing through rollers to render it uniform in thickness, then varnishing it to give it r5 color and afinished appearance, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

ERNEST F. GRETHER. CHARLES MOSHER.

Witnesses:

JAMES DU SHANE, Guns. W. WILEY, 

